I can't even believe I am making this confession on my blog but here it is. 50 Shades of Grey just isn't holding my attention. I have to admit that I read it and I think to myself what type of independent, strong willed, self confident woman would agree to such a fucked up arrangement. Although the sex scenes are steamy, sensual and erotic...to be honest I just can't get passed the degrading nature of their relationship dynamic.

So the other day while I was getting my hair done I was sitting under the dryer and I thought I could either read 50 Shades of Grey or download a new book. So I opted for downloading a new book and OMG am I glad I did. I downloaded "Yes, Chef" by Marcus Samuelson and if you are unfamiliar with him he is a NYC  Chef who won Top Chef Masters a few seasons ago. However, the depth of his story is so much more powerful. I was nearly in tears just with his introduction and the sensitivity, emotion and honesty of his story. Samuelson was born in Ethiopia  to a single Mother in a poverty ridden land. When he was approximately 18 months old (I believe) his Mother was infected with tuberculosis during the epidemic in 1972. His Mother recognizing that she was close to death took Samuelson and his older sister for a walk to the nearest hospital which I believe was 75 miles away...on foot. She never left the hospital and both of her children were orphaned. He has no memories of his Mother and no pictures, yet the smell of Ethiopian cooking spices are the closest thing to an association.  He and his sister were adopted by a Swedish couple and that is where he was raised. His sense of gratitude and love for his adopted parents and grandparents are beyond heartwarming. And I will be honest although I have never been that woman who has felt her clock tick or dreamt of being a Mother the thought of saving and nurturing a child who has no family is a pretty overwhelming and amazing thought. Don't worry I don't see myself becoming the next Angelina Jolie, but I have to admit I was pretty overwhelmed by emotion with his story.

Super yum!!

Tonight after the gym I got home and all I felt like doing was baking. Sure I was starving and I could have made dinner, however I opted for these for dinner instead:

And I decided to make the easiest, fastest, one pot brownie recipe known to man. You may ask how I exactly know that this is the easiest, fastest, one pot brownie recipe and really it doesn't matter people make up their own titles all the time. "World's Best Hot Dog Restaurant," or "Best Pizza in California," or "Chewiest Rice on the Planet." Seriously you really can't verify those claims so people make them up, use them for marketing and we all blindly believe them.... I am just following suit.

This is the 1 pot

But seriously you do make these brownies in a pot and only 1 pot and they are pretty darn easy. The recipe came from Rachael Ray and this recipe is perfect for those nights when you need brownies stat, you are suffering from PMS crazy cravings or you have an amazing bottle of red wine and you need chocolate to go with it. Ok to be honest I don't fit any of those scenarios tonight, but I felt like baking and so I did. But you are probably pretty impressed with my imagination, ay.

Yeah I have always had a very vivid imagination. As a child I had an imaginary horse, I truly believed I could build a house and my best friend and I tried to build it in the backyard...let me just say the linoleum floor looked pretty good but we kind of failed when it came to walls. I also had no problem lining up all of my stuffed animals and putting them on an airplane so I could serve them fake food and tea. I also enjoyed taking all of my Mothers dishes out of the cupboards so I could pretend to own a restaurant. Ahhh yes imagination is not something I am lacking. Unfortunately as we get older the whole imagination thing isn't as easily embraced...it goes from being "cute" when you are 7 to being "creepy" when you are 30ish.

Melt 4T of butter with 2 oz unsweetened chocolate in your one pot. Take the pot off the heat and whisk in 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and scrape into a parchment lined 8" square baking dish. Cook for 18 minutes at 350 degrees and voila instant brownies. Cool and cut.

This is the parchment paper disaster I was describing

I do have to say that I really don't understand parchment paper and I always have trouble with it. It always ends up deforming my baked goods rather than just creating a non-stick surface. This recipe showed a picture of parchment paper all perfectly cut on the corners and sitting pretty in the pan...so I tried cutting the corners and mine just didn't look nice at all. So I decided to google parchment paper and see what I could learn about my baking nemesis. Did you know its grease and water resistant? According to TLC cooking its purpose is to provide a non-stick surface with easy clean-up. It also allows you to pick up an entire batch of cookies or brownies easily...umm when was the last time you were like damn how can I pick up these 15 cookies at the exact same time? Just saying! It can also be used in the microwave and finally it can also be made into a disposable pastry bag....oh thank you god. However, I did learn that I could also just use cooking spray to create the same surface...phew!